An immigration advocate and a Democratic Senator said they are worried Orange County could be used as a large immigration facility by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE).
“We’ve seen reports that ICE is considering a large detention center or process facility in Senate District 17. An Orlando ICE detention center would be an unacceptable and dangerous escalation of immigration enforcement in our area,” Orlando Democrat Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said in a statement Friday. “Let me be clear. We oppose any effort to place an ICE facility here and will fight it at every turn.”
When reached for comment, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the county has not heard directly from ICE so he was unable to confirm any news about a possible facility. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer could not be reached immediately Friday evening.
Since. Jan. 1, there have 831 bookings on immigration hold at the Orange County Jail although a significant number of those bookings have been re-bookings, according to Orange County.
Meanwhile ICE is ramping up its presence in the region, said Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, Executive Director, Hope CommUnity Center.
“We have received multiple verifiable and credible reports that ICE and Border Patrol agents are stopping individuals in our communities, requesting documentation, and detaining people, often without a clear explanation,” said Sousa-Lazaballet, who is running for House District 42 as a Democrat and has been a longtime immigration advocate.
Sousa-Lazaballet said he was concerned ICE will use a warehouse to hold up to 1,500 people.
“I have personally visited the suspected site and can state unequivocally: this is a warehouse built to store goods and merchandise, not to house human beings. Using such a space for detention would constitute a profound humanitarian failure,” he said in a statement. “Detaining individuals in a warehouse setting is not enforcement; it is dehumanization, and it stands in direct opposition to our most basic values and principles of human rights.”
Sousa-Lazaballet is scheduled to hold a press conference Monday in Apopka with U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost to address the situation. Orange County jail officials will also release more information on the jail bookings next week.
